Abortion, drug use, and election laws are three of the top issues voters across the nation will decide on when Election Day arrives on Nov. 5.
Voters in 41 states are slated to decide on more than 140 ballot measures at the polls, with Arizona, Colorado, and California putting forth the greatest number of initiatives.
More measures could be approved before all ballots are finalized.
Abortion
Abortion-related ballot initiatives have been picking up steam ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and placed regulation of the procedure with state legislatures and governors.This year, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, and South Dakota will weigh amendments creating a constitutional right to abortion in their states. Most measures extend that right until fetal viability, while leaving the door open to late-term abortions for medical emergencies and other unspecified health risks.
Nebraska’s ballot will also feature a competing initiative that would prohibit abortion after the first trimester of pregnancy, except in medical emergencies or cases involving rape or incest.
Although an amendment slated for New York ballots does not specifically mention abortion, it would bar discrimination based on pregnancy outcomes and “reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” among other categories.
Crime
A legislatively referred ballot measure in Arizona would empower police to arrest illegal immigrants who enter the state directly from a foreign country without using an official port of entry. The statute would also bar noncitizens from using false documents to apply for public benefits and make it a felony to sell fentanyl that causes a person’s death.Another Arizona proposal would require anyone convicted of child sex trafficking to receive a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
California’s Proposition 36 would increase penalties for repeat shoplifters and fentanyl dealers. The measure—put forward amid a wave of smash-and-grab retail thefts—would reverse part of a 2014 initiative that relaxed penalties for nonviolent drug and property crimes.
In Colorado, voters will weigh an amendment limiting bail in certain first-degree murder cases and a proposal to lengthen mandatory prison terms for violent offenders before parole eligibility.
Drug Policies
Floridians are set to vote for the first time on the legalization of recreational marijuana use, while voters in North Dakota and South Dakota will weigh similar initiatives for the third time.Two Nebraska propositions would permit the medical use of marijuana in the state and establish a commission to regulate the new industry.
Elections
Election laws will feature heavily this year on voters’ ballots.Amendments that would restrict voting to U.S. citizens in all state and local elections are on the ballot in Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Missouri’s proposal includes a ban on ranked choice voting, a method that allows voters to rank candidates by preference, with the lowest-ranking candidates’ votes being reallocated until one receives a majority.
Ballots in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and the District of Columbia will all feature proposals to establish ranked choice voting. By contrast, an Alaska initiative seeks to repeal the top-four ranked choice voting system the state adopted in 2020.
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and South Dakota will also consider measures to replace their partisan primaries with a system in which all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, appear on one ballot, and the top four vote-getters (five in Nevada) advance to the general election.
Pay and Benefits
Voters across several states will sound off on proposals to increase their state’s minimum wage. In California, that threshold would be bumped up to $18 an hour, while measures in Alaska and Missouri set the bar at $15 an hour and mandate paid sick leave. A Nebraska proposal would require paid sick leave without changing the minimum wage.Massachusetts voters will decide on whether to gradually increase the minimum wage for tipped workers to meet the state’s standard minimum of $15 an hour for other employees. Meanwhile, an Arizona proposal would allow tipped workers to earn 25 percent less per hour than the minimum wage provided that their total pay exceeds the minimum wage plus $2.
Taxes
An Arizona proposal would allow property owners to seek property tax refunds for expenses arising from a local government’s failure to enforce ordinances against illegal camping, loitering, obstructing public thoroughfares, panhandling, public urination or defecation, public consumption of alcoholic beverages, and possession or use of illegal substances.Ballots in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and New Mexico will feature measures to cap or reduce property taxes, while a North Dakota initiative would nix them altogether.
Other Measures
Smaller trends slated for this year’s ballots include same-sex marriage and school choice.Although the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015, several states still have bans on the books. Proposed measures in California, Colorado, and Hawaii would repeal those laws. Each of those states still has laws that oppose same-sex marriage, though they are not enforceable. California’s would also declare marriage a “fundamental right.”
And, as Colorado and Kentucky voters decide on proposals to establish school choice programs in their states, Nebraskans will weigh a measure to overturn a bill authorizing public grants for certain students to attend private schools.
